My January shipment just arrived, roasted on Jan 9. ooohhhh it smells so good! Can't wait to taste it when it is rested!

Pulled some yesterday and this morning. The roaster's parameters call for 19g dose, 24-26 beverage in 25s. It is a bit twitchy around this number. Going to 25.x gets right into roasty somewhat bitter flavors. For whatever reason, I'm kind of sensitive to those flavors and don't like any hint of smokiness at all. To that point, I think the roast is just a little past the point where I like it. I think it does better the shorter it is pulled. There seems to be little worry of sourness, but a propensity for the smoky flavors if at all extracted past the optimum.

It's still only 6 days post roast, so it may continue to improve with rest.

I agree that this is roasted a bit more than I prefer. My first shot was 15g in 20g out in a 15g VST in 28s. Syrupy and sweet but a bit bitter. Shorter and lower temp should help but I'd still prefer to only have 1 bag of this instead of two.

I'll say it.

This one is (removed harsh term) not at all to my liking. Smoked well past my point of tolerance. It's like a bag of Peets or Starbucks.

nuketopia wrote:I'll say it.

This one is crap. Smoked crap. It's like a bag of Peets or Starbucks.

And is that not good?

I visited Linea a while back when I was in SF. I was at first not even sure I was at the right place. Then, when I realized I was, I was surprised that it is still in business.

Seriously, it's smoked xxxx.

I can't drink it.

Pulled another shot at 198F in 24s. I agree, there's no saving this coffee. This is my first month where I'm really disappointed.

The LM folks suggested 195-196F, drop the brew time to 19-20s. Was already heading in that direction on my own. Still dominated by the bitter/ashy roasted notes. This is how the roaster intended it to be. The roast/burn flavors seem to come out more as it rests.

Oddly enough this one of the better roasts for me. November's roast was so sour that I ended up tossing the beans and considered canceling the subscription.

I'm doing 200F, 19g in, 26g out, and a 30-33s ramping pressure and flow profile extraction. The flavors varies quite a bit based on hairline adjustments to the grind level. On one end there are smokey tones reminiscent of a shot from a classic Italian cafe. On the other end I'm finding a heavy almond component that can overwhelm the drink if pushed too far. The sweet spot for me is somewhere in between, but I really like the idea that the dialed in spot is a narrow band rather than a specific grind level.

I realize that there is an audience for darker roasts. Unfortunately, I'm not among them. . For whatever reason, I find the deeper roasts very burnt/bitter tasting once they cross a certain point. Even a hint of it makes it hard to drink the coffee, as to my taste, burned notes completely dominates any other flavors present.

I have found that this can be pulled very short and fast at low temperatures and the burnt flavor are not so overwhelming. At 19.5g in a 20g VST basket, 195f, 9-bar, 18 seconds for 21g out, the bitty/ashy flavor backs off enough to taste other flavors and makes a drinkable shot.

Sorry for calling it bad names. This is not though, a good one for me.